Date: Wed, 27 Jun 2001 21:09:50 -0400
From: bobhunt@erols.com
Subject: [lpaz-repost] (fwd) [TnLP] Court: U.S. Violated International Law 
To: lpaz-repost@yahoogroups.com, Individual-Sovereignty@egroups.com, sierratimes@egroups.com


On Wed, 27 Jun 2001 20:48:07 -0000, "Chris" <scullyfan_99@yahoo.com> wrote:

If the world continues to get po'd at us, fine by me. Lets withdraw 
from the UN now. But that won't happen.

By ANTHONY DEUTSCH 
Associated Press Writer 


THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP)  The United States violated the rights 
of Germany and two of its citizens when it denied the condemned 
brothers access to their consulate before executing them in 1999 for 
murder, the World Court ruled Wednesday. 

The U.N. court also found that its order to the U.S. government to 
postpone the execution  which was ignored by the state of Arizona  
was not merely a request but a legal obligation. 

Karl and Walter LaGrand were executed in Arizona for stabbing to 
death a 63-year-old bank manager in the town of Mirana during a 
botched robbery in 1982. Another employee was seriously injured. 

The German consulate learned of the case 10 years later in 1992, when 
the brothers already had gone through a series of appeals in U.S. 
courts. 

Karl LaGrand, 35, received a lethal injection on Feb. 24, 1999. On 
March 3, the day before Walter LaGrand's scheduled execution, Germany 
filed its case in the World Court and the court asked the U.S. 
government to delay the execution until it could consider the case. 

Gilbert Guillaume, president of the United Nations court  formally 
known as the International Court of Justice  said the U.S. efforts 
to stay Walter LaGrand's execution were ``certainly less than should 
have been done.'' 

The court's verdict is binding and not subject to appeal, but the 
World Court has no independent means to enforce compliance. If one 
side feels the other has failed to live up to a court ruling, it can 
ask the U.N. Security Council to impose sanctions. 

The court's jurisdiction is generally determined by the willingness 
of both parties to have their dispute heard. However, Germany and the 
United States both ratified the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular 
Rights, which requires that such disputes be heard before the World 
Court. 

The court's judges voted 14-1 that the United States breached its 
obligations to Germany and to the brothers under the Vienna 
Convention. It said if other German nationals are sentenced to severe 
penalties without help from their consulate,the United States must 
``allow the review of the conviction and sentencing.'' 

The ruling also affirmed the court's authority to order national 
courts to adhere to its temporary injunctions. It said the request 
that the United States stay the execution had not been a ``mere 
exhortation, but created a legal obligation.'' 

Germany strongly welcomed the ruling, saying it strengthens the 
rights of anyone arrested in a foreign country. Foreign Ministry 
spokesman Andreas Michaelis said the German government was ``highly 
satisfied.'' 

The World Court intervened for the first time in a death penalty case 
in 1998, demanding that the United States spare the life of a 
Paraguayan sentenced to die in Virginia for murder and attempted 
rape. Angel Francisco Breard argued that he was not informed of his 
right to assistance from the Paraguayan consul after his arrest, and 
consul officials said they would have advised him to handle his case 
differently. 

The United States did not deny the mistake and apologized, but argued 
that the lack of consular help had no bearing on the trial's outcome. 
He was executed a week later. 

Although the court did not deal with the legal or moral issue of 
capital punishment in the current case, the case highlighted the 
divergent views of Europe and the United States. The death penalty 
has been abolished in all member states of the European Union. 

The ruling could open the possibility of intervention in the death 
sentences of other foreign nationals on death row in the United 
States, court officials said on condition of anonymity. In their 
opening statements, German officials cited an Amnesty International 
report which said 87 foreigners had been condemned to death in the 
United States between June and November of 2000. 

James Thessin, a State Department legal adviser, said Washington 
considers consular notification an important right ``for foreign 
nationals in the United States and a right that is important for 
Americans overseas.'' 

The United States admitted its failure to notify the German consulate 
and apologized to Germany. But during his two-hour reading of the 
judgment, court president Guillaume said an ``apology is not 
sufficient.'' 

The 15-member court also acknowledged the U.S. government had already 
taken action to redress its shortcomings, setting up a department to 
deal with consular issues involving arrested foreign nationals





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